


the end

by jessicamiriamdrew



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Angst, Character Death, M/M, Major character death - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-10
Updated: 2012-08-10
Packaged: 2017-11-11 19:36:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/482146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessicamiriamdrew/pseuds/jessicamiriamdrew
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce may not be able to end his own life, but the Hulk is killing him. All Tony can do is watch.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the end

**Author's Note:**

> _Even as you wait for death you’re wiser than I am.  
>  Tell me, what does it mean to exist?_ -This is not the end, The Bravery

Every time the Hulk came out, Tony could see the fight draining from Bruce. It was clear that the stronger that the Hulk got, the more energy he sapped from Bruce.

He was withering away and Tony didn’t know what he could do to stop it. All he wanted to do was hold Bruce and whisper promises he couldn’t possibly keep.

Tony wanted to return strength to Bruce. “I’d give you my pulse,” he whispered to Bruce during a night of fitful sleep.

He never wanted to watch his lover die. Tony used to enjoy the thrill of battle, proving to some new opponent how much stronger the Avengers could be.

It wasn’t worth it, not anymore, not when Bruce disappeared by the day. But he couldn’t fix this because he didn’t know how.

Tony prayed even though he didn’t think anyone listened. How could Bruce get ripped away from him so soon after they had clicked, after Tony had truly understood the meaning of the term soulmates?

“This isn’t the end. It can’t be.” But Bruce smiled in a way that broke Tony’s heart all over again.

“You can do this without me.”

He couldn’t. When they laid Bruce to rest, Tony’s voice cracked as he tried to address their friends. “Scientist. Hero. Friend. Lover.”

There was nothing else to say. Nothing to do but wrap his arms around a headstone that didn’t reflect Bruce at all.

He tried to think of happy times with Bruce. Tony knew Bruce would want him to do that and not dwell on the pain of losing him.

Each day he struggled. The pain only grew worse as he looked at his life and calculated a good twenty years without Bruce.

He’d thought he knew pain before all of this. Bruce had always been different, always surprising him. 

This was Bruce Banner’s legacy. A desperate man with a broken heart, crying over the one thing he couldn’t fix and would never be able to.


End file.
